Broncos bring fresh energy this time?

It wasn't just this 23-yard touchdown run by Ryan Mathews. The Denver Broncos seemed at least a step behind the Chargers much of the night when they last met, Dec. 12, 2013, at Sports Authority Field.
— Sean M. Haffey

It wasn't just this 23-yard touchdown run by Ryan Mathews. The Denver Broncos seemed at least a step behind the Chargers much of the night when they last met, Dec. 12, 2013, at Sports Authority Field.
— Sean M. Haffey

This is by no means an attempt to make an inferno from a harmless ember, to manufacture bulletin board material from a throwaway quote.

But it sure seems the Denver Broncos believe they weren’t themselves the last time they played the Chargers.

“It was just one of those games we just weren’t at our best,” Broncos linebacker Wesley Woodyard said Monday to the Denver media. “I really don’t remember too much about it, but I do remember we really didn’t have that edge that we should have had on the field. It happens, and it can’t happen again. That was just one of those nights we didn’t show up to play our best game.”

And while, as a San Diego columnist, I’d love to take issue with t that assertion, I cannot.

You can see where it might be true that the Broncos tripped over their own excellence when the Chargers went to Sports Authority Field and temporarily stalled the inevitability that was Peyton Manning & Co.’s trek to being the AFC’s top seed.

The Broncos entered that game (which was played exactly one month before this Sunday’s Divisional round game will be) with an 11-2 record, having twice beat the Kansas City Chiefs and in control of the AFC West and all but certain to earn a bye in the postseason.

They were without Wes Welker on offense, and four defensive starters from their November game in San Diego did not play that night. Welker and three of the defenders will play Sunday.

Prior to that December game, the Broncos had not lost at home this season, and the Chargers entered that game with a losing record.

It happens.

That was a fantastic win by the Chargers. There is no taking away from that. If the Broncos were invincible, they would have converted more third downs, tackled Ryan Mathews more (or sooner) and won that game.

“I was a little happy, you know, because they put one on us the last time," Denver receiver Andre Caldwell told the Denver Post. "I feel like we owe them a little something. It adds a little punch. We're already motivated, but it adds a little punch, makes us go a little harder, work a little harder."

Yes, this is going to be a different kind of game.

In the buzzing Chargers locker room at Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday, Eric Weddle gushed about how far the Chargers have come this season, especially in the past six weeks or so, and he was ebullient about the significance of a road playoff victory, in particular for the advancement of a young defense.

Then, abruptly, he laughed. It was a sort of sadistic chuckle, actually. And he said this: “We know the challenge that is ahead of us. Let’s not get it twisted.”

As this column is not meant to incite, it is also not meant to diminish.

The Chargers can beat the Broncos again. To do so, they must, essentially, duplicate what they did a month ago – controlling the ball and pestering Manning.

But you have to consider the different circumstances. There is no advantage to be given this time to one team being more feral than the other. In fact, while the Chargers are playing with virtually nothing to lose, the Broncos are motivated by their playoff exit last year.

“They’ve been playing hungry,” Broncos receiver Eric Decker said of the Chargers. “I think from (the Dec. 12) game on, it’s been playoff football for them. They’ve been playing well as a team. For us, our biggest thing is we’ve got to match them physically. We’ve got to bring some energy. I think that is something we didn’t do last time around.”